Lewis Hamilton: Monaco GP win could have been like China 2007

Lewis Hamilton

Hamilton: Monaco win could have been like China 2007

And we all know how that ended!

Matthew Scott

Sunday 26 May 2019 17:15 Updated: 17:34

Lewis Hamilton's mind immediately turned back to his harrowing experience at the 2007 Chinese Grand Prix after clinging on for victory at the 2019 Monaco Grand Prix using a set of tyres well beyond their lifespan. Hamilton skidded out of a position that would have won him the championship 12 years prior, although there were no such consequences this time around.

Hamilton was fitted with medium tyres in the only round of pit-stops for the leading drivers in Monte Carlo, while Max Verstappen, Sebastian Vettel and Valtteri Bottas behind him took the hard compound.

Verstappen crawled all over Hamilton's gearbox for much of the race, prompting furious radio calls to and from the Mercedes pit-wall, however the Red Bull man was dropped to fourth by a time penalty.

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Having ultimately lost out on the title in his rookie campaign in similar circumstances, it was clear that Hamilton had relived some haunting memories while on his way to victory in Monaco, which he was delighted to dedicate to Niki Lauda.

He said: "That was definitely the hardest race I've had.

"I really was fighting with the spirit of Niki. Niki's been such an influential person in our team, helping us get to where we are.

Hamilton clings onto Monaco win under intense Verstappen pressureRead more

"So I know he'll be looking down and know he would take his hat off today.

"I was just trying to stay focused and trying to make him proud, that's kind of been the goal all week and were going to try to continue that through the year. But we truly miss him.

"I've not driven on empty tyres since I think Shanghai 2007, when McLaren left me out for a ridiculous time!

"I was never going to come in. A couple of years ago I was in the lead and then I came in for a pitstop and learned the hard way and lost the race here, so I wasn't going to come in. I was either going to crash or finish.

"Honestly I was driving around on nothing. You could see how much understeer I had, the car wasn’t turning."